Lady Tigers Take No. 1 Rankings to NCAA Indoors

March 05, 2013, 07:49 PM (CT)
Updated: March 05, 2013, 07:51 PM (CT)

LSU head coach Dennis Shaver

Steve Franz

Will Stafford (@WillStaffordLSU)
Associate SID

BATON ROUGE - The Lady Tigers will compete for a national championship this weekend as the No. 1-ranked team in the country for the fourth-straight week and the Tigers are poised for another strong finish as the nation's No. 15-ranked team in the final U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 power ranking released Tuesday.

This weekend marks the end of the 2013 indoor season as the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships run Friday and Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Lady Tigers have held the No. 1 spot in the USTFCCCA Top 25 women's power ranking in each of the last four weeks as they are poised to end an eight-year drought with their first NCAA Indoor team title since the 2004 season. They have taken third place in the final women's team standings at the NCAA Indoor Championships in each of the last three seasons.

Challenging the Lady Tigers for this year's indoor national championship will be No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Oregon and No. 5 Texas A&M rounding out the top five. LSU must dethrone Oregon if it hopes to take home the gold as the Ducks are the three-time defending NCAA Indoor champions on the women's side.

The Lady Tigers have qualified 10 entries in eight different events into the meet this weekend as they prepare for Friday's opening day of competition.

Seniors Kimberlyn Duncan and Charlene Lipsey are sure to lead the Lady Tigers into the national championship chase as they are the NCAA's No. 1-ranked performers in their respective events.

Duncan is the two-time defending NCAA Indoor champion in the 200-meter dash and is poised to defend her crown once again as the NCAA and World leader with an indoor personal best of 22.54 during the 2013 season. She is also the NCAA's No. 2-ranked performer in the 60-meter dash with a personal best of 7.16 in the event this year.

Lipsey is the nation's top-ranked 800-meter runner after defending her SEC Indoor crown on Feb. 24 with an indoor school record of 2 minutes, 2.48 seconds. Trailing Lipsey in the national list is teammate Natoya Goule, who has run the No. 2-ranked time in the NCAA this season at 2:03.08 to earn her reputation as a national title contender in the event.

The Tigers will pack a punch of their own as they enter the meet with a No. 15 national ranking in the final USTFCCCA Top 25 men's power ranking released on Tuesday.

Like Duncan, sophomore sprinter Aaron Ernest is the NCAA and World leader in the men's 200-meter dash for 2013 after claiming his first career SEC Indoor crown in the event after setting his indoor best of 20.53 in the SEC final on Feb. 24. Senior Damar Forbes is also a national championship contender this weekend in the men's long jump after jumping a seasonal best of 26 feet, 5 ¾ inches in a runner-up finish at the SEC Indoor meet. Forbes is the NCAA's No. 2-ranked long jump for the 2013 season.

Arkansas is the favorite to claim the men's NCAA Indoor crown on its home track at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The Southeastern Conference is sure to win the men's team title as the Razorbacks are followed in the USTFCCCA Top 25 men's power ranking by No. 2-ranked and three-time defending NCAA Indoor champion Florida and No. 3 Texas A&M.